Patrick b



(No Model.)

P. B. DELANY. v MEANS FOR COMMUNICATING INFORMATION. No. 450,615.

' wmmw I n I Patented Apr-.21, 1891.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE,

PATRICK l3. DELANY, OF NEIV YORK, N. Y.

MEANS FOR COMMUNICATING INFORMATION.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 450,615, dated April 21, 1891.

Application filed November 26, 1888. Serial No. 291,831. (No model.)

To all whom it may concern;

Be it known that I, PATRICK B. DELANY, of New York, in the State of New York, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Means for Communicating Information, of which the following is a specification.

The object of my invention is to provide an improved organization by which any desired news or matters of interest may be communicated to observers who may be at a considerable distance at night or in the dark.

In carrying out my invention I employ the letters of the alphabet and the numerals in connection with lights, each of which when lighted or flashed displays its corresponding letter'or number. The letters and nu merals may be arranged upon a transparency, in the rear of which the lights are flashed.

The lights, which are preferably incandescent electric lamps, may be flashed by means of electric circuits-controlled from a key-board; or when operated from a distance I may employ a main circuit and a distributing or selecting device controlled from the transmitter, by means of which the operator is enabled to conncct with the circuit of any lamp in the line and flash the light by a transmitted impulse. By this organization I am not restricted to the communication of predetermined signals, but may spell out upon the transparency all kinds of information.

In the accompanying drawings, Figure 1 is a diagram View illustrating a transparency, local circuits, and keys, by means of which the lights may be flashed to display their respective letters or numbers. Fig.2 is a diagram View showing a transmitting-station and a distant transparency and an interposed distributer or selector.

The invention may be carried out in the manner shown in Fig. 1, in which A B represent theleads of an incandescent-electric-light circuit. A series of keys K, one for each letter or number on the transparencyor flashlight bulletin, have their front stops connected with one side of the circuit, while the keys are respectively connected in branch circuits with the opposite side of the main circuit through incandescent lamps Z, each located in a compartment of the transparency T having the letters or numerals thereon. By opergize an electro-magnet O whose armature O is provided with pallet-teeth working upon a star-toothed wheel a on a spindle of, carrying a rotating trailer D The trailer traverses a circle of segments d, each connected through a lamp in the transparency, and thence, say, to earth by Wire Y. The trailer, which normally rests upon a segment, is connected by the main line D with a key D and a source D of electric energy. By operating the key O the trailer may be brought to the desired segment, and then by depressing the key D the corresponding light may be flashed to display its letter or numeral. Any suitable number of transparencies or illuminated bulletins may be operated in multiple by making multiple connections with the segments, as indicated by dotted lines, or in series by extending the line Y, as shown by the dotted line, instead of directly carrying it to earth.

I I claim as my invention The combination, with a transparency or bulletin having the letters of the alphabet and numerals thereon, of electric lamps, one for each letter or numeral, for displaying the same,'the circuit of said lamps, the selector consisting of a trailer traversing insulated segments, with which the circuits of the lamps are respectively connected, electro-magnetic devices for actuating the trailer, the main line in which the trailer is included, a source of electric energy, and current-transmitting devices, substantially as set forth.

In testimony whereof I have hereunto subscribed my name.

PATRICK B. DELANY. 

